P^M.  T~>. 
' jftPAH  ^ 


De  F^.Ye^T 


American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions. 


A CHAPTER 

FROM  THE 

ACTS  OF  THE  APOSTLES 

IN  JAPAN. 


A FAMILIAR  EPISTLE. 


[printed,  not  published.] 


.^iciiptute  neabing. 

Acts  XIX:  21-41. 


A WIDE-AWAKE  LETTER  FROM  JAPAN. 


Okayama,  Nov.  17,  1880. 

Dear  Dr.  Clark  : 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  send  you  an  account  of 
the  acts  of  some  of  the  minor  apostles. 

About  two  or  three  years  ago,  as  Mr.  Curtis 
and  myself  were  walking  through  the  great  ex- 
hibition at  Osaka,  a young  man  spoke  to  us  in 
broken  English.  “ What  you  do  call  dis  ? ” he 
said,  pointing  to  some  article  on  exhibition.  We 
entered  into  conversation  with  him,  found  him  to 
be  a medical  student  from  the  large  castle  town, 
Tottori,  some  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles 
northwest  from  Osaka.  A few  months  later,  he 
was  a candidate  for  baptism.  Shortly  after  that, 
he  entered  the  training-school  at  Kioto,  and  last 
summer,  during  vacation,  gladly  undertook  mis- 
sionary work  in  his  native  town.  A dozen  hearers 
being  soon  gathered,  he  wrote  for  help,  and  one 
of  the  teachers  from  the  girls’  school  at  Kioto 
was  sent  to  his  aid.  But  vacation  is  a thing  that 
don’t  last  forever,  and  these  young  men  were 
compelled. to  leave  a promising  work,  the  one  to 
go  back  to  his  duties  as  a teacher,  the  other  to 
return  as 'a  scholar.  I was  earnestly  requested, 
both  by  letter  and  by  this  young  man  in  person, 
to  go  to  his  native  town,  and  take  up  the  work 
so  well  begun.  Leaving  a dozen  important  things 


4 


in  Osaka  undone,  and  taking  the  acting  (but 
active)  pastor  of  the  First  Church  with  me,  we 
crossed  in  three  days  the  back  of  Japan,  and 
stood  on  the  shore  of  the  North  Sea.  We  were 
not  prepared  for  the  cool  reception  we  met.  A 
foreigner  had  been  seen  there  once,  three  years 
ago,  but  the  sight  of  one  is  so  rare  over  there 
that  it  sets  the  whole  town  in  commotion. 
But  when  it  was  known  that  the  foreigner  was 
going  to  preach  the  Yesu  religion,  the  old 
dread  of  that  forbidden  way  fell  upon  the  hotel- 
keepers,  and  with  one  accord  they  declined  to  re- 
ceive me.  A Christian,  however,  succeeded  in 
securing  me  lodgings  at  a private  house,  and  the 
police  were  instructed  to  be  careful  not  to  inter- 
fere with  the  new-comer,  as  the  treaties  were  un- 
der revision,  and  it  would  not  do  to  have  any 
disturbance  of  any  kind.  The  outlook  was  dis- 
couraging. No  arrangements  had  been  made  for 
preaching,  and  only  six  or  eight  persons  cared  to 
hear  the  Way.  I told  Mr.  Kajiro  that  I felt  like 
Jonah,  and  wanted  to  run  away.  He,  laughing, 
pulled  out  a letter  that  he  had  just  written  to 
his  wife,  and  showed  me  that  he  had  written  the 
same  idea.  But  on  reflecting  that  Jonah  didn’t 
better  himself  very  much  by  his  flight,  we  de- 
termined to  see  what  could  be  done.  With  no 
idea  of  what  the  morrow  would  bring  forth,  we 
slept  that  Saturday  night,  and  waked  up  to  spend 
one  of  the  strangest  Sundays  I ever  saw. 

Before  I was  up,  an  officer,  who  is  an  earnest 


5 


student  of  the  Bible,  sent  up  his  card.  Then 
soon  Mr.  Kajiro  found  an  old  friend  who  had 
been  to  America,  studied  three  years  in  New  York, 
and  was  head  teacher  of  the  Normal  School.  He 
brought  him  to  see  me,  and  we  spent  a delightful 
morning  together.  Of  course  he  knew  Chris- 
tianity, had  Bible  and  commentaries,  spoke  Eng- 
lish well,  but  had  never  given  himself  to  a hearty 
belief  in  Christ.  He  was  drifting.  Then  five  or 
six  others  gathered  to  welcome  us  and  to  plan 
for  work.  In  all  the  city  there  was  no  fit  place 
for  preaching ; but,  as  is  the  case  with  all  the 
castle  towns  of  Japan,  so  far  as,  I’ve  seen,  there 
are  vast  harlot-quarters,  and  large  theaters  on  one 
side  of  the  city.  “ Shall  we  go  to  the  theaters  ? ” 
was  the  only  question  left  us  to  consider.  The 
young  men  who  went  there  to  preach  in  the  sum- 
mer would  not  go  to  .such  a place,  and  perhaps 
they  were  wise  in  their  action.  But  I felt  that 
some  of  the  places  where  Jesus  and  Paul  preached 
were  not  one  whit  better  than  the  theaters  of 
Tottori.  My  only  inquiry  was,  “If  we  hire  a 
theater,  will  the  better  class  of  people  go  to 
hear  ? ” They  assured  me  that  there  was  no 
doubt  about  it ; there  would  be  a good  audience 
of  as  good  people  as  the  city  held.  So  it  was 
determined  to  hire  the  theater  that  day,  and  to 
advertise  three  days’  preaching  by  an  American. 
Some  went  to  prepare  the  theater,  some  wrote 
and  caused  to  be  put  up  about  forty  placards 
through  the  city,  and  the  necessary  notice  was 


6 


sent  to  the  police-station.  The  head  school- 
teacher cheerfully  promised  to  make  the  opening 
speech,  introducing  K.  and  myself,  and  to  tell 
something  of  what  he  had  seen  of  Christianity  in 
the  United  States.  Shortly  after  that,  what  was  my  - 
surprise  to  hear  wooden  clappers  rattling  away  in 
front  of  my  house,  and  to  see  a clownishly  dressed 
fellow,  shouting  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  “ Preach- 
ing to-night!  Religion  of  Jesns!  By  an  Amer- 
ican ! Seats  free  at  the  theater  ! ” I was  told  that 
the  owner  of  the  theater  always  sent  out  such  a 
notice.  So  that,  with  the  forty  placards  and  the 
exertions  of  this  clapper-clown,  the  twenty  thou- 
sand people  of  Tottori  became  pretty  well  aware 
of  the  new  movement  in  a very  short  space  of 
time.  Evening  came,  and  the  head-teacher  called 
for  us  with  his  wife  and  two  little  ones  — just 
such  a lady  as  could  do  a glorious  work  were  she 
a Christian.  On  entering  the  theater  we  found 
about  one  hundred  gathered,  but  as  soon  as  it  be- 
came known  that  the  American  was  really  behind 
the  scenes,  the  house  filled  rapidly,  until  there 
was  not  a foot  of  standing-room  left.  Six  hun- 
dred is  the  ordinary  capacity  of  this  theater,  but 
pressure  steadily  applied  swelled  that  number  by 
one  hundred  or  two  hundred  more.  Our  intro- 
duction was  fair,  the  speaker  saying  that  Chris- 
tianity is  divided  into  three  great  branches : Ro- 
man Catholic,  Greek,  and  Protestant;  that  K. 
and  myself  are  Protestants,  and  that  where  the 
Protestant  custom  prevails,  there  the  greatest 


prosperity  is  found.  While  he  loved  the  Chris- 
tian civilization,  he  personally  was  not  a Chris- 
tian, was  not  advocating  it,  but  only  introducing 
the  advocates  of  it.  With  this,  K.  went  forward 
and  told  how  Japan  was  awakening  under  the 
quickening  influences  of  this  new  way  ; that  it  was 
nothing  to  fear  ; rather,  through  this  religion  Japan 
would  gain  the  greatest  possible  prosperity  and 
blessing.  Then  I spoke  nearly  an  hour.  The 
Japanese  believe  in  protracted  meetings.  One 
speaker  in  an  evening  is  not  half  enough,  and  the 
last  speaker’s  position  is  the  place  of  honor.  How 
such  an  audience  feels  when  a foreigner  comes 
before  it,  I do  not  know.  Evidently  they  had  no 
idea  the  speaker  could  make  himself  understood. 
But  when  one  and  another  began  to  say,  in  a sup- 
pressed voice,  “ Really,  we  can  understand,”  the 
desire  to  hear  increased,  and  the  crowd  that  could 
not  get  in  increased,  until  the  outsiders  burst 
through  one  or  two  weak  places  in  the  sides  of 
the  poorly  built  theater.  But,  as  in  natural  philos- 
ophy, the  pressure  from  within  outwards  being 
equal  to  the  pressure  from  without  inwards,  noth- 
of  benefit  resulted  to  those  without.  One  thing 
was  clearly  seen  by  the  little  band  of  Christians 
who  had  the  matter  in  charge : that  that  theater 
was  too  small.  So  they  gave  that  up,  and  rented 
for  the  next  night  the  largest  theater  in  all  that 
region  ; one  that  would  hold,  under  pressure, 
twelve  hundred. 

The  next  day,  K.  and  I were  busy  without 


cessation  with  those  who  came  to  congratulate 
us,  and  to  inquire  more  about  the  Way,  and  to 
invite  us  to  a feast.  Among  our  callers  were  the 
preacher  of  the  Greek  religion,  who  is  trying  to 
gather  a church  there,  and  several  of  his  fol- 
lowers not  yet  baptized.  As  their  respectful  man- 
ner and  kindness  brought  us  into  close  relations 
with  them,  we  discussed  in  the  most  friendly  way 
the  differences  in  our  beliefs,  and  I urged  that 
since  we  both  felt  called  to  work  in  Tottori, 
there  should  be  no  unpleasant  feelings  ; and  since 
several  were  in  doubt  as  to  which  to  join,  we 
should  unite  our  efforts  in  public,  to  convince 
everybody  that  we  cared  more  for  Christian  love 
than  we  did  for  any  church  creed.  In  short,  I 
urged  the  Greek  preacher  to  speak  at  the  theater 
with  K.  and  myself.  He  readily  accepted,  and 
that  night  we  three  attempted  to  teach  the  largest 
and  most  uncontrollable  crowd  I have  yet  seen  in 
Japan.  The  theater  filled  up  to  its  edges,  over- 
flowed on  to  the  speaker’s  platform,  crowded  into 
the  actors’  rooms  where  we  were  waiting,  and, 
before  we  could  commence,  the  place  bid  fair  to 
be  the  scene  of  an  uproar  for  which  the  new 
religion  was  likely  to  be  called  into  question. 
Hoping  to  quiet  the  audience,  K.  stepped  for- 
ward and  beckoned  with  his  hand,  and  began  the 
first  speech.  But  not  only  was  the  press  too 
great,  but  several  fellows  of  the  baser  sort  were 
evidently  aching  to  cause  an  outbreak.  K.  made 
a brave  and  prolonged  stand,  but  was  repeatedly 


9 


interrupted  by  fellows  within,  and  by  the  hun- 
dreds without  who  couldn’t  get  in.  When  he 
came  back  into  the  actors’  rooms  it  was  plain 
that  he  was  seriously  anxious.  We  sent  for  po- 
lice, but  several  said  there  were  not  police  enough 
in  Tottori  to  control  that  crowd.  Meanwhile,  the 
Greek  stepped  forward,  and  being  of  command- 
ing appearance,  and  a new  face  to  them,  they 
quieted  down  for  a few  moments,  but  when  he 
tried  to  explain  the  “ narrow  gate,”  they  refused 
to  listen  ; the  interruptions  grew  more  decided, 
local  disturbances  took  place,  and  at  last,  in- 
sulted, he  was  forced  to  retire.  It  was  now  my 
turn.  Some  of  my  friends  thought  I ought  not 
to  adventure  myself  into  the  theater  before  them ; 
others,  that  I should  step  forward  and  dismiss 
them  with  a brief  remark  or  two.  A large  part 
of  the  audience  was  yet  in  good  order,  and  I felt 
sure  no  insult  was  intended  towards  me.  There 
was  not  the  slightest  fear  of  personal  harm  — only 
that  the  evil-minded  fellows  would  force  a free 
fight  there  and  then,  for  which  the  preaching  of 
the  Yesu  religion  would  be  naturally  held  re- 
sponsible. So  I stepped  out  before  them.  The 
better  portion,  perhaps  over  half  the  people,  im- 
mediately became  quiet,  but  there  were  no  signs 
of  yielding  in  other  parts  of  the  house.  At  last 
I shouted  out  that  in  America  the  Japanese  had 
the  reputation  of  being  the  politest  people  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  ; but  if  they  didn’t  stop  this  up- 
roar and  be  quiet,  there  was  one  American  who 


10 


never  would  say  that  the  Tottori-ites  were  polite. 
This  being  applauded  by  the  few  hundreds  who 
could  hear,  the  rest  suddenly  wanted  to  hear  too. 
One  or  two  hundred  who  couldn’t  see  me  still  kept 
up  a disturbance,  whereupon  I shouted  to  them 
that  if  their  desire  was  to  see  the  foreigner,  pro- 
vided they  would  only  content  themselves  for  a 
few  moments  with  hearing  me.  I’d  wait  till  mid- 
night to  show  them  my  face.  This  provoked 
general  applause ; and  after  that,  though  some 
made  slight  interruptions,  there  was  excellent  at- 
tention given  by  over  a thousand  of  them  for 
nearly  an  hour,  while  I opened  up  the  folly  of 
worshiping  dried  wood,  and  ridiculed  the  absurd 
customs  that  inevitably  arise  from  idolatry.  I 
"was  compelled  to  keep  a-going,  as  any  pause 
would  have  been  only  an  opportunity  for  an  out- 
break. They  met  my  statements  of  what  I had 
seen  in  Japan  with  surprise  that  I had  found  out 
so  much,  and  with  repeated  applause,  until  I 
turned  to  the  inevitable  injury  that  idolaters 
^everywhere  and  universally  must  receive,  intel- 
-lectually  and  socially.  At  last,  upon  my  appeal- 
5hg  to  the  ambition  all  true  Japanese  have  to  take 
-their  place  among  the  foremost  nations  of  the 
sewth,  and  assuring  them  that  such  stultification 
laiid  licentiousness  as  came  from  idolatry  would 
(prevent  their  sure  advance  into  true  civilization, 
stheir  applause  gave  way  to  a serious  thoughtful- 
-riess,  and  the  boisterous  audience  became  like  a 
rgood  old-fashioned  church  in  America  on  Sun- 


day.  It  was  no  little  relief  by  this  time  to  see  a 
policeman  here  and  there  in  the  audience,  and, 
on  dismissing  the  people,  they  for  the  most  part 
quietly  withdrew.  But,  fearing  the  crowd  would 
become  even  worse  on  the  next  night,  we  called, 
on  our  way  home,  at  the  central  office,  thanked 
them  for  their  assistance,  and  asked  for  police  in 
abundance  for  the  next  night.  Then  we  prayed 
for  rain,  or  any  obstacle  that  would  prevent  such 
a gathering  again. 

There  is  no  time  to  write  the  interesting  atten- 
tions received  on  the  following  day.  Again  and 
again  we  congratulated  ourselves,  on  the  snow, 
and  hail,  and  rain,  that  came  fitfully  all  day,  and 
just  about  the  time  for  gathering,  it  was  all  we 
could  desire.  We  felt  sure  that  nothing  but  a 
true  interest  would  bring  out  hearers.  But  the 
whole  city  was  agitated,  and  the  theater  quickly 
filled.  The  head-teacher,  who  now  was  very 
much  interested,  made  the  first  address,  telling 
how  deeply  he  felt  over  last  night’s  speeches ; he 
was  glad  indeed  to  have  a foreigner  here,  but  he 
was  filled  with  sorrow  at  hearing  his  country 
described  as  so  degraded  in  morals,  while  he 
could  not  deny  it.  Some  doubtless  felt  very 
grateful  to  hear  the  foreigner  say  that  Americans 
regarded  the  Japanese  as  the  most  polite  people 
on  the  earth  ; but  he  felt  far  more  like  crying  at 
hearing  such  a remark.  “For  Japanese  polite- 
ness— what  is  it?  It  is  all  beautiful  formality, 
without  one  particle  of  kindness  and  love  in  it'; 


12 


and  since  I’ve  been  to  America,  I’ve  had  nothing 
more  to  do  with  it.  Let  us  give  up  our  empty 
greetings,  and  become  kind  and  loving.”  With 
such  an  earnest  opening,  my  confidence  was  en- 
tirely restored.  But  some  in  the  audience  grew 
restless,  began  interruptions,  grew  worse  and 
more  insulting  than  last  night,  and  actually  broke 
the  speaker  down,  forcing  him  to  retire  in  anger 
and  disgust.  The  police  had  no  authority,  or 
else  would  not  show  it.  There  was  little  hope 
left  for  any  successful  talking.  But  K.  went  for- 
ward, and,  after  repeatedly  trying  to  catch  atten- 
tion, he  quieted  the  larger  portion ; and  then  he 
made  one  of  the  most  taking  addresses  I have 
yet  listened  to  in  Japanese.  He  fairly  poured  out 
an  unbroken  stream  of  wit  and  truth,  until  he 
had  his  audience  at  will ; then,  bearing  more  di- 
rectly on  the  great  aim  of  our  work,  he  had  the 
closest  attention  for  an  hour,  the  people  forget- 
ting that  there  was  a foreigner  behind  the  cur- 
tains, and  the  foreigner,  listening  with  delight, 
forgot  that  his  turn  was  next.  I felt  that  K.  had 
made  a deep  impression  in  favor  of  Christianity, 
and  I offered  him  ten  yen  to  write  that  address 
out  for  a tract  for  general  distribution.  My  ser- 
mon was  well  received,  as  I urged  them  to  com- 
pare the  commands  of  Christianity  with  those  of 
Buddhism;  but  it  was  very  evident  that  K.  had 
done  more  than  the  rest  of  us  put  together. 

Well,  what  did  it  amount  to?  For  one 
thing,  it  is  evident  that  this  nation  is  ripe  for 


13 

throwing  away  idolatry.  The  people,  in  many 
cases,  feel  that  the  priests  are  simply  squeezing 
all  the  money  they  can,  without  giving  any  ade- 
quate return  ; and  the  delight  with  which  they 
hear  their  nonsensical  idolatrous  customs  spoken 
lightly  of,  shows  that  the  day  of  deep  love  for 
such  things  is  passing  away.  More  than  that,  I 
have  heard  of  repeated  cases  of  those  who  have 
said,  “ Well,  the  foreigner  is  right;  no  more  idols 
for  me.”  So  wide-spread  is  the  feeling  that  there 
must  be  a reform,  that  the  most  powerful  sect  of 
the  Buddhist  religion  has  become  an  open  advo- 
cate of  no  more  idols,  except  Amida,  the  lord  of 
all,  and  his  idol  is  to  be  used  only  as  a finger 
pointing  to  the  invisible  Creator  and  Ruler  of  the 
universe.  Another  thing  is  that  public  opinion 
is  being  shaped  rapidly  in  favor  of  Christianity. 
There  is  still  a lingering  fear  in  many  minds  as 
they  recall  the  terrible  punishments  inflicted  upon 
the  early  Roman  Catholic  Christians.  But  I 
called  on  the  Governor,  was  very  pleasantly  re- 
ceived, and  he  expressed  himself  disappointed 
that  he  personally  had  not  been  able  to  attend 
the  lectures.  He  recognized  the  fact  with  a quiet 
smile,  that,  while  the  Yesu  religion  is  forbidden, 
yet  there  is  no  desire  to  prevent  its  spread ; and 
“ even  if  there  were,  we  couldn’t  help  it,”  he 
added.  Others  remarked,  “We  know  ;/<9Z£/  that 
there  is  nothing  bad  about  Christianity.”  And 
on  the  steamboat,  as  we  were  just  falling  asleep, 
we  heard  some  passengers  talking  of  the  new 


14 


Way.  “ Christianity  is  not  bad,  you  know  ; there 
is  no  use  in  anybody’s  contending  any  longer  for 
the  existence  of  more  than  one  God.” 

Yet,  best  of  all,  the  day  after  our  three  nights’ 
course,  we  intended  to  return ; but  so  urgent  were 
the  requests  for  us  to  stop  one  more  day,  that  we 
remained  over,  and  met  nine  men  who,  with  their 
families  and  friends,  wished  to  form  a company 
to  study  the  Bible  every  Sunday  evening.  K., 
with  great  tact,  made  a little  Book  of  Life,  in 
which  their  names  were  written,  and  in  which 
they  pledged  themselves  to  begin  immediately  the 
searching  of  the  Scriptures.  They  drew  lots  to 
determine  at  whose  house  the  first  meeting  should 
be  held.  Then  K.,  calling  on  them  to  thank  God 
for  his  great  love  in  leading  them  to  the  light  of 
His  gospel,  prayed  from  his  full  heart  before 
those  first-fruits.  The  head-teacher  was  there, 
promising  to  work  with  and  for  this  little  band. 
His  wife  is  full  of  joy,  and  is  one  of  the  “ honor- 
able women  ” who  see  the  w'orth  and  need  of 
Christianity  from  its  first  presentation.  She  be- 
came a Christian  on  the  spot.  I spent  an  hour 
with  him  on  the  reasonableness  and  need  of  daily 
prayer.  In  the  evening  K.  slipped  out,  leaving 
me  to  talk  to  the  endless  string  of  visitors.  When 
he  came  back,  I was  alone,  and  the  look  of  pleas- 
ure on  K.’s  face  was  too  apparent.  “ We’ve  just 
had  the  first  family  prayers  in  this  city  ; father, 
wife,  mother,  and  two  sons  uniting  in  it,  and 
thanking  me  for  teaching  them  how  to  pray.” 


With  that,  our  cup  was  full.  Weary  with  the  ex- 
citing and  ceaseless  work,  we  kneeled  for  our  last 
evening  prayer,  thanking  God  for  all  his  loving 
leading.  We  intended  to  take  a quiet  departure 
on  the  following  morning,  but  our  new  brothers 
all  came  in,  with  their  politeness  undiminished, 
but  with  their  love  undoubtedly  quickened,  and, 
giving  K.  and  myself  their  various  parting  pres- 
ents of  fruit,  paper,  cake,  and  money,  we  felt  one 
common  impulse  to  pray  once  more  together. 
Then,  insisting  upon  it  that  nobody  should  escort 
me  out  of  the  city,  I undertook  to  shake  hands 
with  the  brothers.  But,  alas  1 they  didn’t  know 
how.  “ Let  me  shake  hands  as  we  do  in  Amer- 
ica,” I said.  They  all  began  to  look  doubtful, 
but  I persevered  until  I had  shaken  anything 
they  would  offer  — shut  hands,  limp,  left  hands, 
stiff  arms,  or  the  five  fingers  bunched  together. 
It  was  an  entirely  one-sided  affair.  Some  say 
that  the  touch  of  a hand  often  affects  the  heart  of 
the  receiver.  Whether  this  final  wiggle  reached 
so  far  as  to  the  hearts  of  those  wiggled,  remains 
for  the  future  to  disclose. 

It  took  three  days  to  cross,  by  another  road, 
the  mountains  to  Okayama,  where  the  warm  wel- 
come of  brothers  and  sisters  awaited  me.  Four 
nights  of  preaching  to  a crowded  house,  before 
the  newly  formed  church,  gave  me  deep  pleasure. 
Then,  together  with  brother  Curtis,  I returned 
home.  But  to  tell  you  fully  what  had  happened 
during  those  fifteen  days  would  fill  pages.  Mr. 


i6 


Savvayama  had  resigned  his  connection  with  the 
Missionary  Society  on  account  of  declining 
strength.  The  new  church-movement  I men- 
tioned in  my  last  has  come  to  a head,  and  Mr. 
Leavitt  is  drawing  the  plan  for  the  new  building. 
In  one  of  the  out-stations  worked  from  Osaka,  a 
church  is  to  be  built  immediately,  and  we  are 
earnestly  requested  to  send  a foreigner  over  there 
to  give  the  new  movement  a start ; and  as  this  is 
the  celebrated  Ise,  the  center  of  Shintoism,  we 
shall  not  neglect  it.  The  girls’  school  has  had 
several  additions.  One  physician,  whose  obstacle 
to  the  Christian  life  had  been  for  three  years  his 
concubine,  had  given  her  up,  and  is  an  applicant 
for  baptism.  An  old  woman,  who  had  run  away 
from  her  friends  in  Kobe  because  she  couldn’t 
stand  it  to  live  any  longer  with  Christians,  and 
had  come  to  live  in  Osaka,  found  her  Osaka 
friends  infected  with  the  hated  religion,  and  is 
now  herself  an  humble  hearer  of  the  W ord.  Ap- 
plicants for  baptism  have  increased ; and  this 
week  another  united  missionary  meeting  is  to  be 
held  to  see  if  it  be  possible  to  send  a man  from 
our  over-worked  forces  to  Tottori,  to  hear  re- 
ports from  our  four  fields,  to  elect  a man  in  place 
of  Mr.  Sawayama,  and  to  plan  for  large,  pro- 
tracted meetings  within  this  city.  It  bids  fair  to 
be  a true  Thanksgiving  day,  or  rather  week,  for 
Osaka.  Truly  yours,  J.  H.  De  Forest. 

Sent  from  Rooms  of  A,  B,  C.  F.  J/., 

BostoHy  January  3^  iBBi.  e.  k.  a. 


